India · 2016
Behind Her
She gave me the look straight down the lens, and somewhere behind her, out of focus, a child gave me a harder one.
This story imagines, it does not document. It is what the photograph made me feel.
I had come for the woman. The big silver earrings, the veil, the face that did not move when the camera came up — she was the photograph I thought I was making. Then I saw the second face over her shoulder, blurred, watchful, a kid who had agreed to nothing and was deciding what to make of me.
That second look is the one that finished the frame. The woman lets you in. The child behind her does not, and the picture needs both.
This was the same week, the same edge of the same fairground, the same families who do not open easily to strangers with cameras. I was let in a little. Never all the way.
— Sefa Yamak, Istanbul-based portrait photographer. Pushkar, Rajasthan, autumn 2016. From the INDIA series.
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm · Signed & numbered on verso · Certificate of Authenticity included
If this photograph interests you, write to me directly. I'll answer any questions about print sizes, paper, and process. Studio visits in Istanbul are also available.